TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 175 
London during the preceding 3 years, 8:8 per cent. could not read or write; and 
only 14:3 per cent. had been insufficiently nourished. 
I. Parental conditions.—54. per cent. had lost the father, 46 per cent. the mother, 
and 28 per cent. both parents ; in 25 per cent. only were both parents living. The 
average age of the parents at death was 50'8 years, with an increased duration of 
4°7 years on the part of the fathers. The most frequent age at death was 35 to 55 
years, whilst only 11 per cent. died under the age of 35, and some lived upwards 
of 95 years. 18 per cent. had experienced feeble health before the birth of the 
patient, and 34 per cent. throughout life ; in 22°7 per cent. one or both parents had 
led unsteady lives. 21-1 per cent, of the parents had died of consumption, whilst 
in 2:8 per cent. the grand-parents, 23°3 per cent. the brothers or sisters, and 9'1 per 
cent, the uncles or aunts had died of the same disease, They had suffered from 
rheumatism in 22 per cent., from asthma in 9°4 per cent., from liver-disease and 
gout in 9 and 7:2 per cent,, and from fevers, ague, insanity, and diabetes in 4to5 
per cent. Presumed scrofulous affections were extremely rare, In only 6 cases was 
there consanguinity of the parents. 
The age of the parents at the birth of the patients was, in half of the cases, from 
25 years to 35 years, and in only 2 per cent, was it less than 20 years. The number 
of the children was very large, viz. an average of 7°5 to a family, and in some families 
there were 23 children. The patient was the first child in 20 per cent., and the 
first, second, and third child in half of all the cases, 40 per cent. of the parents’ 
children had died, 
2. Personal Conditions.—In only 23 per cent. were the patients under eet. 20, and 
a few were et. 60. 24 per cent. had been feeble at birth, whilst 22 per cent, had 
suffered from feeble general health, and 17 per cent, from generally defective appe- 
tite. In 12°6 per cent, the lungs had been always delicate; 2°5 per cent. had been 
dry-nursed ; 25:4 per cent. had perspired with unusual freedom; 25 per cent. had 
never worn flannel next the skin, and 55 per cent. had suffered from coldness of the 
extremities; 72°5 per cent. had an excitable temperament; 62:1 per cent. had 
medium brown or light-coloured hair, 74 per cent. had grey or blue eyes, 60 per 
cent. had florid complexion, and 46-7 per cent. had a fleshy habit. 
16, 65-4, 60, and 41 per cent. had not had measles, scarlet fever, small pox, and 
hooping-cough in their order, and the frequency of any long-continued ill-effects 
from these diseases was insignificant; 12:8 per cent. had sutfered from enlarged 
glands, and 4:5 per cent. from long-continued affection of the eyes, but otherwise 
the ordinary scrofulous disease scarcely existed. 16-7 per cent. had suffered from 
inflammation of the lungs, and 14:8 per cent, from rheumatism, whilst typhus fever 
and frequent diarrhoea had occurred in 8 per cent., ague in 5°6 per cent., and liver- 
disease in 4°3 per cent. of the cases. 
The menses appeared at eet. 14 and 15 years in 36:4 per cent., and in 11 per cent. 
only was it before et. 13. 43:5 percent. were married, and of these 13 per cent. had 
not borne children. Their average age at the birth of the first child was zt. 20 to 
25, and in only 9 per cent. were they under et. 20, The number of children per 
family was 1 and 2 in 44 per cent., and 1, 2, and 3 in 55 per cent.; 38 per cent. 
of the children had died, and in 43 per cent. the general state of the health of the 
children was bad; abortions had occurred in 46:2 per cent. of the child-bearing 
married women, 
29°6 per cent. of the males had led a bad life at some period, 24'5 per cent. had 
smoked tobacco, 19-3 per cent. of both sexes had submitted to late hours, and 22:2 
per cent. had suffered much anxiety. In 70 per cent. some complaint was made as 
to the injurious influence of their occupations, as exposure, long hours, close and 
hot rooms, bending posture, dust, or fumes, &e. 
The author then entered into a consideration of the question of hereditary trans- 
mission, and showed the relation of such an inquiry to the purposes of life assur- 
ance ; but was of opinion, that as consumptives are a very mixed class of persons, 
and the causes of the disease most various, the only safeguard to life-offices was the 
careful examination of the chest of applicants by competent physicians. 
On the Income Tax. By W.T. THornton. 
’ The object of this paper was to show, first, that every income-tax whatsoever must 
